Οἱ Διαδικτυακοὶ Ὀρφικοὶ Ὕμνοι The Orphic Hymns Online Modern painting of Apollon

Ἀπόλλωνος

Θυμίαμα μάνναν

Ἐλθέ, μάκαρ Παιάν, Τιτυοκτόνε, Φοῖβε Λυκωρεῦ, Elthé, mácar Pæán, Tityoctóne, Phœ̂be Lycōreû, Μεμφῖτ’, ἀγλαότιμος, ἰήιος, ὀλβιοδῶτα, Memphît’, aglaótimos, iḗios, olbiodôta, χρυσολύρη, σπερμεῖος, ἀρότριε, Πύθιε, Τιτάν. chrysolýrē, spermeîos, arótrie, Pýthie, Titán. Γρυνεῖε, Σμινθεῦ, Πυθοκτόνε, Δελφικέ, μάντι, Gryneîe, Smintheû, Pythoctóne, Delphicé, mánti, ἄγριε, φωσφόρε Δαῖμον, ἐράσμιε, κύδιμε κοῦρε, ágrie, phōsphóre Dæ̂mon, erásmie, cýdime coûre, κρουσιλύρη, χαροποιός, ἑκηβόλε, τοξοβέλεμνε, crousilýrē, charopœós, hecēbóle, toxobélemne, Βράγχιε καὶ Διδυμεῦ, Παταρήιε, Λοξία, ἁγνέ· Bránchie cæ̀ Didymeû, Patarḗie, Loxía, hagné; Δήλι’ ἄναξ, πανδερκὲς ἔχων φαεσίμβροτον ὄμμα, Dḗli’ ánax, pandercès échōn phaesímbroton ómma, χρυσοκόμη, καθαρὰς φήμας χρησμούς τ’ ἀναφαίνων· chrysocómē, catharàs phḗmas chrēsmoús t’ anaphǽnōn; κλῦθί μευ εὐχομένου λαῶν ὕπερ εὔφρονι θυμῷ· clŷthí meu euchoménou laôn hýper eúphroni thymôi; τόνδε Σὺ γὰρ λεύσσεις τὸν ἀπείριτον αἰθέρα πάντα tónde Sỳ gàr leússeis tòn apeíriton æthéra pánta γαῖαν τ’ ὀλβιόμοιρον ὕπερθέν καὶ δι’ ἀμολγοῦ, gæ̂an t’ olbiómœron hýperthén cæ̀ di’ amolgoû, νυκτὸς ἐν ἡσυχίῃσιν ὑπ’ ἀστεροόμματου ὄρφνης nyctòs en hēsychíēisin hyp’ asteroómmatou órphnēs ῥίζας νέρθε δέδορκας, ἔχεις δέ τε πείρατα κόσμου rhízas nérthe dédorcas, écheis dé te peírata cósmou παντός· Σοὶ δ’ ἀρχή τε τελευτή τ’ ἐστὶ μέλουσα. pantós; Sœ̀ d’ archḗ te teleutḗ t’ estì mélousa. παντοθαλές, Σὺ δὲ πάντα πόλον κιθάρῃ πολυκρέκτῳ pantothalés, Sỳ dè pánta pólon cithárēi polycréctōi ἁρμόζεις, ὁτὲ μὲν νεάτης ἐπὶ τέρματα βαίνων, harmózeis, hotè mèn neátēs epì térmata bǽnōn, ἄλλοτε δ’ αὖθ’ ὑπάτην, ποτὲ Δώριον ἐς διάκοσμον állote d’ aûth’ hypátēn, potè Dṓrion es diácosmon πάντα πόλον κιρνὰς κρίνεις βιοθρέμμονα φῦλα, pánta pólon cirnàs críneis biothrémmona phŷla, ἁρμονίῃ κεράσας παγκόσμιον ἀνδράσι μοῖραν· harmoníēi cerásas pancósmion andrási mœ̂ran; μίξας χειμῶνα, θέρος τ’ ἴσον ἀμφοτέροισιν, míxas cheimôna, théros t’ íson amphotérœsin, ταῖς ὑπάτας χειμῶνα, θέρος νεάταις διακρίνας, tæ̂s hypátas cheimôna, théros neátæs diacrínas, Δώριον εἰς ἔαρος πολυηράτου ὥριον ἄνθος. Dṓrion eis éaros polyērátou hṓrion ánthos. ἔνθεν ἐπωνυμίην Σε βροτοὶ κλῄζουσιν ἄνακτα, énthen epōnymíēn Se brotœ̀ clḗizousin ánacta, Πᾶνα, Θεὸν δικέρωτ’, ἀνέμων συρίγμαθ’ ἱέντα· Pâna, Theòn dicérōt’, anémōn syrígmath’ hiénta; οὕνεκα παντὸς ἔχεις κόσμου σφρηγῖδα τυπῶτιν. hoúneca pantòs écheis cósmou sphrēgîda typôtin. κλῦθι, μάκαρ, σώζων μύστας ἱκετηρίδι φωνῇ. clŷthi, mácar, sṓzōn mýstas hicetērídi phōnêi.

To Apollon

The fumigation from manna

Blest Pæan, come, propitious to my pray’r,
illustrious pow’r, whom Memphian tribes revere,
slayer of Tityus, and the God of health,
Lycorian Phœbus, fruitful source of wealth.
Spermatic, golden-lyr’d, the field from Thee
receives it’s constant, rich fertility.
Titanic, Grunian¹, Smynthian, Thee i sing,
Python-destroying, hallow’d, Delphian king:
rural, light-bearer, and the Muse’s head,
noble and lovely, arm’d with arrows dread:
far-darting², Bacchian, two-fold, and divine,
pow’r far diffused, and course oblique is Thine.
O, Delian king, whose light-producing eye
views all within, and all beneath the sky:
whose locks are gold, whose oracles are sure,
who, omens good reveal’st, and precepts pure:
hear me entreating for the human kind,
hear, and be present with benignant mind;
for Thou survey’st this boundless æther all,
and ev’ry part of this terrestrial ball
abundant, blessed; and Thy piercing sight,
extends beneath the gloomy, silent night;
beyond the darkness, starry-ey’d, profound,
the stable roots, deep fix’d by Thee are found.
The world’s wide bounds, all-flourishing are Thine,
Thyself all the source and end divine:
’tis Thine all Nature’s music to inspire,
with various-sounding, harmonising lyre;
now the last string Thou tun’st to sweet accord,³
divinely warbling now the highest chord;
th’ immortal golden lyre, now touch’d by Thee,
responsive yields a Dorian melody.
All Nature’s tribes to Thee their diff’rence owe,
and changing seasons from Thy music flow
hence, mix’d by Thee in equal parts, advance
Summer and Winter in alternate dance;
this claims the highest, that the lowest string,
the Dorian measure tunes the lovely spring.
Hence by mankind, Pan-royal⁴, two-horn’d nam’d,
emitting whistling winds⁵ thro’ Syrinx fam’d;
since to Thy care, the figur’d seal’s⁶ consign’d,
which stamps the world with forms of ev’ry kind.
hear me, blest pow’r, and in these rites rejoice,
and save Thy mystics with a suppliant voice.

Gesner well observes, in his notes to this Hymn, that the comparison and conjunction of the musical and astronomical elements are most ancient; being derived from Orpheus and Pythagoras, to Plato. Now, according to the Orphic and Pythagoric doctrine, the lyre of Apollo is an image of the celestial harmony, or the melody caused by the orderly revolutions of thc celestial spheres. But I cannot believe that Orpheus and Pythagoras considered this harmony as attended with sensible sounds, according to the vulgar acceptation of the word: for it is surely more rational to suppose, that they meant nothing more by the music of the spheres, than their harmonical proportions to each other. Indeed these wise men, to whom metaphors were familiar, may be easily conceived by vulgar sound and vulgar harmony to insinuate internal sound, and harmony subsisting in its origin and cause.

Hence we may consider the souls of the celestial spheres, together with the soul of the world, as composing the choir of the nine Muses; (who are called by the Platonists nine Syrens) and dancing in numerical order round Apollo the sun of the intellectual world. But these nine Muses are far different from the marine Syrens of the poets who, resident as it were in the sea of material delights, draw us aside by their alluring melody, from the paths of rectitude. For these are divine Syrens inviting us to the proper end of our nature; and forming from the eight tones of the eight spheres, one perfect and everlasting harmony.

The following quotation from the Platonic Nichomachus, Harm. i. p. 6, illustrates the meaning of the Hypate and Nete, or the highest and lowest string. From the motion of Saturn, (says he) “The most remote of the planets, the appellation of the gravest sound, Hypate, is derived: but from the lunar motion, which is the lowest of all, the most acute sound is called νεάτη, Nete, or the lowest.”

But Gesner observes, that a more ancient, and as it were archetypal appellation, is derived from the ancient triangular lyre, a copy of which was found among the pictures lately dug out of the ruins of Herculaneum; where the highest chord next to the chin of the musicians is the longest, and consequently (says he) the sound is the most grave. Gesner proceeds in observing, that the three seasons of the year are so compared together in a musical ratio, that Hypate signifies the Winter, Nete the Summer, and the Dorian measure represents the intermediate seasons, Spring and Autumn. Now the reason why the Dorian melody is assigned to the Spring, is because that measure wholly consists in temperament and moderation, as we learn from Plut. de Mus. p. 1136. E. and consequently is with great propriety attributed to the Spring, considered as placed between Summer and Winter; and gratefully tempering the fervent heat of the one, and the intense cold of the other.